Business development is the strategic thinking that generates the commercialization ideas that drive the tech marketing. Tech marketing is the act of identifying target industries and potential partner companies in those industries, crafting the approach for contacting them, and following through with contact, information exchange, and dialogue.
Academic technologies do not sell themselves. Lita Nelsen, who ran Tech Transfer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for upwards of 30 years, once famously said “A hot academic technology is one that two companies are interested in.” The article mentioned in Topic 3 shows that even the best Tech Transfer programs only license 25% of the invention disclosures they receive: Les Nouvelles XLVIII No. 1, 44-51, March 2013.pdf
To make an invention more licensable, the TTP must develop a robust business development and marketing program. While the first hallmark of a robust Tech Transfer program is a rigorous invention assessment process, the second hallmark is a rigorous marketing program.
In broad overview, marketing is divided into passive marketing and active marketing.
Passive marketing involves posting the tech brief to websites and hoping that a potential licensee finds it and contacts you.
Active marketing involves proactively identifying suitable potential licensees and sending an appropriate contact at the target of the tech brief.
Step 1:
Develop a tech brief: a one-page, non-confidential document that summarizes the benefits of the invention in a clear, easy and attractive to read format. This document is posted to websites for passive marketing and used in the first step in active marketing. You may also want to create a poster format version, also called a Quad Chart.
Here’s a presentation on writing a tech brief.
Step 2:
Begin passive marketing, in which the invention’s tech brief is published in technology databases. The first database should be your own institution’s website, which should have an “Available Technologies” page. In addition, the tech brief should be listed in other technology websites. Some that were active as of late 2020 are included in the presentation linked in the next section, but this is a field that changes rapidly.
Final step:
Embark on active marketing, in which the TTP identifies specific companies that would be a good strategic fit for the technology, and contacts them, using the tech brief as the initial calling card.
We will take a deeper look at technology marketing in Topic 8: Technology Marketing (Part 2).
Here’s a presentation on technology marketing.